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By Justin PritchardAssociated Press • Monday August 26, 2013 1:56 AM

LOS ANGELES — Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk urged the public to polish sketch plans he
released the week before last for a “Hyperloop” that would shoot capsules full of people at the
speed of sound through elevated tubes connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco.

From tinkerers to engineers, the race is on.

A Utah firm hustled out a model using a 3-D printer. A Pennsylvania company is testing a virtual
Hyperloop with sophisticated computer software. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants
ad space inside capsules, and in San Francisco, enthusiasts interested in “making Hyperloop a
reality” will meet over beers.

Meanwhile, Musk himself has shelved the project and returned to his established future-is-here
transportation ventures: luxury electric-carmaker Tesla Motors Inc. and the rocket-building company
SpaceX.

In principle, the Hyperloop is doable.

The concept pulls together several proven technologies: Capsules would float on a thin cushion
of air and draw on magnetic attraction and solar power to zoom through a nearly air-free tube.
Because there would be so little wind resistance, they could top 700 mph and make the nearly
400-mile trip in about half an hour.

Actual construction would hinge on challenges far more complex than advanced engineering — those
involving money and politics.

The $6 billion Musk projected as the cost was a terrific lowball to some. Others suggested his
time frame of a decade to completion was naive — that getting political backing and environmental
clearances, much less the land to build the tubes on, would take much longer.

Conspicuously absent was a commitment that Musk would sink substantial money into the project
anytime soon — if ever.

One thing Musk was clear about: The public should participate in questioning, modifying and
ultimately perfecting his proposal, which he published at www.spacex.com/hyperloop.

And in that respect, there has been no lack of enthusiasm.

At the computer simulation software firm ANSYS, engineers are designing and testing a virtual
model. The goal is to get a “quick and dirty” sense of how much wind drag a capsule would
encounter, and thus how fast it could go, said Sandeep Sovani, the company’s director of Global
Automotive Industry.

Sovani said he long has been intrigued by tube travel, and wants to produce a model both out of
intellectual curiosity and on the chance that Musk eventually looks for partners.

“What I want to do,” Sovani said, “is live in Florida and work in Michigan and go back home
every day.”